Kirby on England breakthrough, US loss
Monday, February 16, 2015
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Fran Kirby has never played a top-division senior match but was England's star against the USA; she tells UEFA.com about breaking through and Kelly Smith's backing.
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Fran Kirby has never played a top-division senior match but on Friday she was player of the match after terrorising the United States defence in England's narrow 1-0 loss in Milton Keynes.
Alex Morgan's first-half goal, her 50th for the US, settled the pre-FIFA Women's World Cup friendly but Kirby was named player of the match for a lively performance in which she was only denied an equaliser by a superb Ashlyn Harris save. Not bad for a 20-year-old who only earned her senior England debut in August, scoring against Sweden, and has spent her entire club career at second-tier Reading WFC.
Kirby spoke after the match about their performance in England's first game since the heavy 3-0 loss to Germany at Wembley in November, the new formation adopted by manager Mark Sampson, her international breakthrough and what Kelly Smith, who bowed out of the team this month, told her successor in the No10 shirt.
On the match...
I really enjoyed it. Aalthough we haven't been together much, we've only really had this week to prepare, it's really nice to see that we can compete against the big guns.
On coming close in the second half...
I was actually off celebrating thinking I'd scored but it was a great save from the goalkeeper; she tipped it on to the bar, the rebound was called offside.
On England's new 4-4-2 formation...
America really struggled to break us down. A lot of their play was aerial, so they go out wide, which is what we were expecting with us being so narrow. It was great to see they couldn't play through us and they didn't have a clear-cut chance playing through. We were really happy with the performance and the progress we've made is really good.
On her England breakthrough...
It's been a whirlwind. It's only this time last year that I got involved in the senior squad. Since then I've just made sure I've been working hard and putting in the extra hours in training and in the gym, making sure I'm ready. Every time I've come away on camp I've improved as a player. I'm getting better and better so hopefully more to come from me.
On wearing Kelly Smith's old No10 shirt...
Kelly was an amazing player so putting on the No10 shirt I did feel a bit of pressure. But Kelly messaged me to say "good luck, enjoy yourself", so it was great to have that kind of positive feedback from her. I'm taking in the challenge and just loving the pressure.
On next month's Cyprus Women's Cup...
It is going to be a tiring time as we have got six games in two weeks but it is just about us improving and progressing and just making sure we stay in and around the top seeds.
Bonus...hear from US goalscorer Alex Morgan:
